Horses, donkeys and the places they call home
Horses in Morocco, from tbourida to the mules of the High Atlas
Riders line up their horses before setting off together at a gallop. In a High Atlas valley, a muleteer adjusts the bags bound for a mountain refuge. Near Rabat, a young horse learns to jump. These movements reveal several roles for horses and other equids in Moroccan life, through celebrations, work and sport.
Behind the parade are breeders, riding families and the craftspeople who make the saddles. Behind mountain transport are paths, livelihoods and everyday needs. Understanding this history means following those people as well as the breeds, and keeping horses, donkeys and mules distinct when reading the figures.
How many horses, donkeys and mules do agricultural statistics count?
The Haut-Commissariat au Plan, Morocco’s planning and statistics authority, is known as the HCP. It publishes results from the agriculture ministry’s survey. In its 2025 Statistical Yearbook, the three figures below appear under working animals, a category associated with draught and transport. They describe that agricultural statistical coverage; the table does not establish that it includes every sport and leisure horse.
Horses in agricultural statistics
173,000
The national table reports 173.0 thousand horses. Donkeys and mules have separate entries.
Donkeys in agricultural statistics
894,000
The table reports 894.0 thousand donkeys, considerably more than horses in the same survey.
An annual survey published in thousands of animals
The table’s note places the annual survey in March and April. The year 2024 therefore identifies the observation, while 2025 is the yearbook edition. The HCP dates the release of the Excel workbook to June 2026. These dates refer to different stages of the publication process.
Values are published in thousands of head, with 2024 marked provisional. The detailed regional table has a slightly different horse total from the national summary. Each retains its purpose here: the summary supplies the three national figures, and the regional detail supports comparison between regions. Rounded figures do not become an exact animal-by-animal inventory.
The figures follow the HCP’s administrative territory
The yearbook’s regional detail includes Laâyoune–Sakia El Hamra and Dakhla–Oued Ed-Dahab. The territory covered by Morocco’s administration therefore includes areas of Western Sahara. That matters when comparing the figures with an international database that may use different geographical units.
The observations retain their source territory. The directory map and international comparator keep their own geographical and statistical sources; the national figures on this page are not used to recalculate them.
Donkeys and mules reveal another side of working life
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a mare, rather than a breed of horse. In the High Atlas, mules carry crops, building materials and walkers’ luggage. Their work connects households and activities that rarely appear in breed shows or on racecourses.
Research in the Toubkal valleys also shows why motor vehicles have not removed every need for pack animals. A lorry can reach a track, then a mule takes the load on to a house or building site. These local observations explain an activity; they do not provide a national census.
Source: Cousquer et al., 2023 — Working mules in the High Atlas · HCP — 2025 Statistical Yearbook, Excel workbooks
How the uses of horses have changed in Morocco
The date when domestic horses first reached Morocco remains uncertain. Wild horse fossils, images carved or painted on rock and the bone found at Mogador offer different kinds of evidence for the earlier periods. Records from Banasa and medieval accounts then reveal specific uses, before later changes through courts, studs, transport work and equestrian sport. Tbourida, whose form described by UNESCO dates to the 16th century, belongs within this longer history.
Prehistory
Wild horses once lived in the territory of present-day Morocco
Fossils show that wild horses once lived in Morocco, including Equus algericus, an extinct horse. Brahim Ouchaou and Bouchra Bougariane’s study of large mammal extinctions distinguishes this prehistoric fauna from the animals present in later periods.
These horses belonged to wild populations. Finding them in a prehistoric deposit does not mean that people bred or rode them, or brought them to that place.
The fossils therefore document a history long before horse breeding. They do not, by themselves, establish local domestication, continuity through to today’s horses or direct ancestry for the modern Barb.
Source: Ouchaou and Bougariane, 2015 — Prehistoric wild horses
2nd millennium BC: a regional scenario
The first arrival of domestic horses in Morocco is difficult to date
Research on riders carved or painted on rock places horses within North Africa’s ancient exchange networks. Alessandra Bravin’s synthesis, based on a 2014 thesis and updated in 2023, outlines the traditional scenario in which domestic horses entered North Africa through Egypt and then spread westwards.
The proposed date around the middle of the second millennium BC, roughly 1500 BC, concerns this regional scenario and the route through Egypt. It is not an established arrival date for Morocco. The timing and routes of the earliest local introductions remain unclear.
Horses and riders carved or painted on rock in Morocco provide evidence of earlier practices and imagery. These images are often difficult to date, so they cannot, on their own, establish when the first domestic horses arrived.
Source: Alessandra Bravin, 2014 / 2023 — Riders in Moroccan rock art
6th–5th centuries BC
A horse bone at Mogador provides evidence from before Roman times
Excavations in 2007 and 2008 on the island of Mogador, near Essaouira, recovered a horse leg bone. Cornelia Becker and her colleagues describe it in an archaeological context dated to the 6th–5th centuries BC, approximately 600–400 BC. The date applies to the context in which it was found.
The researchers consider several possibilities: a horse kept at the site, a portion of meat brought from elsewhere or a hide with the bone still attached. The animal’s origin and the circumstances of its arrival are not established.
This find provides a specific archaeological reference well before the Roman records from Banasa. It does not, however, establish local horse breeding or date the first introduction of living horses to Morocco.
Source: Becker, von den Driesch and Küchelmann, 2013 — A horse bone at Mogador
2nd–3rd centuries AD
Ancient records at Banasa document soldiers on horseback
In north-western present-day Morocco, the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana included towns and garrisons. Banasa lay in the Sebou plain. Maurice Euzennat’s archaeological study brings together records there mentioning soldiers who belonged to mounted units.
A cavalryman is recorded at Banasa in AD 124, either serving or as a veteran. Another bronze tablet documents the replacement of a mounted unit by an infantry unit in AD 215. Infantry soldiers fought on foot. These inscriptions provide local evidence of cavalrymen and the organisation of mounted service.
These records illuminate mounted service in Roman times, after the earlier evidence from Mogador. They do not date the first introductions of horses to the region or identify these mounts as a modern breed.
Source: Maurice Euzennat, 1989 — Cavalrymen in ancient Banasa
9th to mid-12th centuries
Medieval breeders raise horses for military expeditions
Medieval Arabic geographers described communities’ resources, routes and activities. Studying their texts, historian Claudette Vanacker identifies horse breeding for military expeditions among groups around Tetouan and the banks of the Laou, in northern present-day Morocco.
The same study distinguishes animals by their work. Camels had an important role in long-distance transport, while donkeys served shorter journeys or mountain routes. Horses appear less often as carriers of merchandise: preparing them for riders gave them another purpose.
These accounts show horses already embedded in breeding and military life centuries before the form of tbourida dated to the 16th century. They describe particular medieval regions and activities, without supplying a total for all horses across the territory.
Source: Claudette Vanacker, 1973 — Breeding in medieval accounts
From the 16th century
Parade traditions take the form of tbourida
UNESCO traces the form of tbourida described in Morocco’s nomination to the 16th century. The performance evokes a collective departure for war, with movements and rituals passed on in Arab and Amazigh communities. Horsemanship becomes visible through the way several riders move together.
The group, known as a sorba, prepares its line and follows a leader, the mokaddem or allam. The leader trains riders and horses, then guides them through the performance. The skill is collective: an uneven start or a horse changing position affects the movement of the whole line.
Clothing and equipment also express connections to a region or community. Families pass on knowledge through speech and observation. Saddles and textiles bring in craftspeople whose work keeps the tradition alive beyond the few minutes of a parade.
1672–1727
Stables help organise court life at Meknes
Sultan Moulay Ismail made Meknes his capital and developed a large palace complex there. The architectural account published by Museum With No Frontiers describes stables for horses and mules alongside residences, stores and other palace buildings. Animals had a place in the practical organisation of power.
Keeping mounts at court required accommodation, feed and people to care for them. Mules were part of that establishment too. The imperial city’s history therefore points to the daily work behind ceremonial horses, less conspicuous than its monumental gateways.
The stated capacity of a stable describes spaces in a building, not a census of every horse during the reign. The national stud at Meknes was established much later. The presence of earlier stables does not establish an unbroken administrative institution from the 17th century onwards.
1832, then 1845
Delacroix depicts the mounted sultan at a diplomatic audience
In 1832, Eugène Delacroix accompanied a French diplomatic mission led by the Comte de Mornay to Morocco. He witnessed an audience with Sultan Moulay Abd er-Rahman. In the sketch held at Dijon, the sultan is on horseback among his guards, while the interpreter Abraham ben Chimol presents the ambassador.
The horse helps stage authority: the mounted ruler stands apart from his entourage. The painting records a particular court occasion through a visiting artist’s eyes. It does not represent the full range of Moroccan people’s relationships with horses.
For the large painting exhibited in 1845, Delacroix reworked the composition and removed the French diplomats. The museum’s account follows that change. A historical image can preserve the memory of an encounter while rearranging it years after the event.
Source: Dijon museums — The Sultan of Morocco, Moulay Abd-Er-Rahman
1912–1947
Military studs develop into civilian breeding services
SOREC dates the establishment of the first Meknes stud to 1912. Other establishments followed under the protectorate, including El Jadida in 1913. Their military purpose was to supply and replace mounts, the work then carried out by the remount service.
These sites brought together stallions and facilities for organised breeding. Their history belongs to colonial administration and the subsequent development of agricultural services. The studs’ portal dates El Jadida’s transfer to civilian oversight to 1946, and Marrakech’s management by the agriculture ministry to 1947.
Buildings and horses consequently acquired different roles over time. Today’s studs make breeding animals and technical services available to breeders. Understanding their work means distinguishing the military origins of some sites from their present civilian activities.
Source: SOREC — 2014 national stud open days · SOREC — Historical stud portal
1958, then 1985
A federation and a sport breeding programme organise competition
The Fédération Royale Marocaine des Sports Équestres, or FRMSE, was established in 1958. It provides a framework for clubs, training and competitions. Showjumping, dressage and endurance require different preparation, while all depend on learning by horse and rider.
In 1985, the federation established Sidi Berni near Rabat. The property selects and raises horses for sport before their competitive careers. Breeding a foal, educating it and preparing it for a course are successive stages of the work.
This programme also illustrates the distinction between birthplace and breed origin. A horse born in Morocco may descend from lines selected elsewhere. Recorded ancestry and the qualities sought in breeding tell us more than a geographical label used on its own.
Source: FRMSE — Federation, clubs and disciplines · FRMSE — Sidi Berni breeding establishment
20th and 21st centuries
Toubkal’s mules work in mining and later mountain tourism
Research by Glen Cousquer, Hassan Alyakine and Victoria Lindsay-McGee follows working mules in the Toubkal valleys. Local accounts describe ore carried down from the mountains to Imlil. Animals also served agriculture and residents’ journeys.
A track reached Imlil in 1956, but it did not reach every workplace. The growth of trekking later created another role for pack transport: muleteers led animals carrying visitors’ luggage and equipment. The same paths consequently connected changing forms of work.
The study combines observations from 2013–2017 with fieldwork carried out in two villages in 2014. It explores how income, feeding, equipment and loads shape animals’ lives. This is a history of particular valleys, where differing circumstances cannot be reduced to one uniform national practice.
Source: Cousquer et al., 2023 — Working mules in the High Atlas
2003–2011
SOREC brings breeding support and racing activities together
The Société Royale d’Encouragement du Cheval, known as SOREC, was established in 2003. This public company under the agriculture ministry took over racing activities in 2007 and national stud activities in 2011. Its remit includes breeding, racing and betting.
For breeders, that organisation means practical services: access to a stallion, declaring a birth, identifying a foal or presenting a horse at a show. Ancestry and breeding events are recorded so that animals and their lines can be followed.
Supporting Barb and Arab-Barb horses forms part of this work. Competitions and other uses create opportunities for the animals breeders produce. The connection between breeding and use helps explain why support for a breed extends beyond preserving its name in a register.
Source: SOREC — 2014 national stud open days · SOREC — Breeding and national studs
2008, then 2021
El Jadida’s horse show and UNESCO bring skills to wider audiences
The first Salon du Cheval d’El Jadida took place in 2008. Breeders, riders, craftspeople and other professionals meet through competitions, displays and discussions. Different ways of working with horses share the same venue.
In 2021, UNESCO inscribed tbourida on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The recognition concerns a practice and the knowledge that sustains it, including training, transmission, clothing and equipment. It is not a breed classification.
Women also take part, as Morocco’s nomination documents. A tradition continues through new learners and the work of associated trades. Local celebrations, competitions and major events now provide different settings in which those skills are practised.
Source: Salon du Cheval d’El Jadida — 2024 programme · UNESCO — Tbourida, inscribed in 2021
Where horses are raised and how their ancestry is recorded
The HCP’s regional table locates horses within its agricultural category, while studs and registers explain how breeding is organised. The two perspectives complement each other: a region with many animals does not by itself measure registered births or sporting performance.
The five regions with most horses in the 2024 agricultural table
Horses in the working-animal category, March–April survey, table 3-20. The source rounds values to one decimal place in thousands; they are converted here to head. Shared scale from zero to 38,900 horses; this is not a total of all sport and leisure horses.
- Casablanca–Settat
38,900
- Tangier–Tetouan–Al Hoceima
32,800
- Fes–Meknes
23,200
- Marrakech–Safi
22,800
- Rabat–Salé–Kenitra
22,400
Source: HCP — 2025 Statistical Yearbook, Excel workbooks
Five national studs and services closer to breeders
The national studs are at Bouznika, El Jadida, Marrakech, Meknes and Oujda. A network of breeding centres brings services closer to horse owners. A breeder can therefore plan a mare’s breeding without relying solely on a central establishment.
SOREC gives the official breeding season as 1 February to 30 June. Depending on the service and stallion, breeders can use a covering or techniques involving stored semen. Choices concern ancestry, the qualities sought and breeding conditions, with professional support.
Source: SOREC — Breeding and national studs · SOREC — Historical stud portal
Identifying a foal and checking its parents
Identification combines a description of the horse with a transponder, a small chip whose number can be read by a scanner. A parentage test compares the foal’s DNA with that of its declared parents. It checks a relationship; it does not independently measure every quality of the animal.
Records are held in the Faras system and in breed studbooks. The identification document accompanies the horse through administrative procedures and activities. Its pedigree remains useful after death, so cumulative registrations do not necessarily count animals still alive.
Source: SOREC — Breeding and national studs · SOREC — 2014 national stud open days
Breeding declarations describe one year’s activity
For 2024, SOREC’s integrated report publishes 5,040 declared births and 8,307 mares covered. Covering records a breeding event; it does not guarantee a foal will be born. The two figures answer different questions and cannot be added together.
The published block provides no breed breakdown of those births and cannot establish the national living population. The report also describes handling competitions, equestrian rallies and loose-jumping events, which offer ways to develop and demonstrate different qualities in Barb and Arab-Barb horses.
Source: SOREC — 2024 integrated report
The organisations supporting breeding, sport and equestrian events
A breeder declaring a foal, a rider looking for a club and a craftsperson exhibiting work need different services. These organisations help identify the appropriate contact for each activity.
- SOREC supports breeders and organises racing
Société Royale d’Encouragement du Cheval
The public company works in breeding, identification, national studs, racing and betting. Its network offers an entry point for breeding procedures.
A breeder can check a stud’s services, look for a stallion and prepare the paperwork for a foal.
- The FRMSE provides a framework for clubs and competition
Fédération Royale Marocaine des Sports Équestres
The federation organises sporting activities, training and competitions across several disciplines. It also publishes resources for tbourida.
Riders can find an affiliated club, an event calendar and the rules they need to enter a competition.
- Sidi Berni raises horses for sporting careers
FRMSE’s Sidi Berni breeding establishment
Established near Rabat in 1985, the federation’s property selects breeding animals and raises sport horses. It connects decisions about ancestry with the preparation of young animals.
Its account of the facilities explains the stages of breeding and rearing that precede a horse’s sporting career.
- El Jadida’s horse show brings equestrian trades and audiences together
Association du Salon du Cheval
The association organises an event combining breeding, competitions, displays, crafts and talks. Archived programmes document the range of activities presented.
The 2024 programme shows Barb and Arab-Barb classes alongside showjumping and tbourida.
Breeds raised in Morocco and horses selected for sport
The Barb belongs to the history of the Maghreb, with Morocco among its breeding countries. The Arab-Barb combines Barb and Arabian ancestry. Breeds with different geographical histories are raised in Morocco too. The links open existing profiles, some of which also explain registration in France.
The Barb, a Maghrebi riding horse seen in tbourida
The Barb is associated with several Maghreb countries. In Morocco it is particularly visible in tbourida, while also being used for trail riding and other ridden activities. Its regional origins do not limit it to one use.
The directory profile explains the Barb’s origins and registration framework. It helps distinguish the breed from the Arab-Barb: when tracing a line or choosing breeding stock, recorded identity adds information that appearance alone cannot supply.
Read the breed profileThe Arab-Barb brings together the ancestry of two breeds
The Arab-Barb comes from crossings between Barb and Arabian horses. It has an important place in tbourida alongside other riding and leisure uses. The name identifies a recorded breeding population rather than every horse with mixed ancestry.
An individual’s registration and pedigree are needed to establish its origins. Appearance alone cannot determine each ancestry’s contribution. SOREC’s account provides the documentary starting point here.
Read the organisation’s accountThe Arabian is bred for several activities, including racing
The Arabian is among the breeds supported by SOREC. In Morocco it appears in racing, breeding shows and other ridden activities. One breed name therefore brings together animals selected for potentially different purposes.
The dedicated profile explains recorded ancestry and breed characteristics. It helps distinguish Arabians from Arab-Barbs even when both appear at the same event.
Read the breed profileThe Thoroughbred belongs to an international racing industry
Thoroughbreds are bred in Morocco for flat racing. The breed developed in Britain and has an international breeding history. A foal’s Moroccan birthplace does not change the origin of its breed.
Registers follow parents and generations across borders. The directory profile explains this ancestry and distinguishes the breed name Thoroughbred from the general description of an animal as purebred.
Read the breed profileThe Anglo-Arab combines Arabian and Thoroughbred origins
The Anglo-Arab is among the breeds supported by SOREC. It combines Arabian and Thoroughbred ancestry within defined registration rules. Registration makes it possible to trace the parents and follow their contribution through successive generations.
The breed profile explains the origins and French registration framework it covers. For a horse registered in Morocco, the relevant studbook’s conditions remain the reference for verifying its status and ancestry.
Read the breed profileThe Moroccan Sport Horse reflects a breeding objective
At Sidi Berni, the FRMSE breeds horses for sporting disciplines and follows their lines. Selection, rearing and preparation are connected stages. Performing over a course depends on a combination of qualities and learning.
The breeding organisation presents this production in its own account. It is distinct from simply taking part in sport: competing in Morocco does not make every horse a Moroccan Sport Horse.
Read the organisation’s accountThe movements and trades that sustain equestrian practices
Tbourida seeks coordination across a line of riders
The performance includes a salute followed by a galloping charge. Riders take their places, set off together and coordinate blank gunfire. The intended effect is one collective report: the audience hears the group’s timing as well as watching the horses.
Competition judges consider dress, handling of weapons and synchronisation. Regional traditions influence some movements. UNESCO’s heritage description and a sporting rulebook serve different purposes; permitted group sizes depend in part on competition categories.
Source: UNESCO — Tbourida, inscribed in 2021 · FRMSE — An introduction to tbourida
A sorba prepares with its mokaddem and craftspeople
A sorba is a group that learns to perform together. Its mokaddem, also called an allam, prepares horses and riders and directs the line. Position and attention to others are practised before the group enters the arena.
Saddles, textiles and decoration require craft skills too. Families and practitioners pass on movements through speech and example, while women and younger riders join groups. The learning process is as much part of the heritage as the performance itself.
Source: UNESCO — Tbourida, inscribed in 2021 · SOREC — 2026 tbourida competition rules
Muleteers connect tracks with houses and mountain refuges
In the valleys studied around Toubkal, mules carry farm produce, construction materials and luggage. A vehicle may stop at the foot of a path that the loaded animal continues to climb. Pack transport is therefore one stage of a journey using several means of transport.
The work involves preparing and balancing loads, fitting equipment and knowing the terrain. The local study connects working conditions with household resources and available care. It makes visible people and animals seldom shown in images of equestrian celebrations.
Source: Cousquer et al., 2023 — Working mules in the High Atlas
El Jadida brings different ways of working with horses together
The 2024 show programme combines Barb, Arab-Barb and Arabian classes with showjumping, tbourida and displays. Visitors can move from a breeding presentation, where horses are assessed, to an event testing their work with a rider.
Talks and craftspeople also give knowledge and trades a place in the event. The programme shows how breeding, entertainment and competition meet without requiring precisely the same qualities from every horse.
Sources for the figures and the history
References within each section lead to the sources below. Agricultural tables, breeding declarations and local studies retain their respective coverage. Undated sources describe organisations and activities without supplying current national population estimates.
- Ouchaou and Bougariane, 2015 — Prehistoric wild horses
Travaux de l’Institut Scientifique, general series 8, pages 5–20: study of large mammal extinctions in Morocco, including the wild horse Equus algericus. Fossils document ancient fauna; they do not establish local domestication or direct ancestry for today’s Barb.
- Alessandra Bravin, 2014 / 2023 — Riders in Moroccan rock art
Les cavaliers du Maroc dans l’art rupestre du Haut Atlas et de la vallée du Draa, thesis defended in 2014, version updated in 2023. Reviews the scenario of introduction through Egypt around the mid-second millennium BC and discusses the chronology of the images. This regional date does not establish when domestic horses arrived in Morocco.
- Becker, von den Driesch and Küchelmann, 2013 — A horse bone at Mogador
Mogador, eine Handelsstation am westlichen Rand der phönizischen und römischen Welt – die Tierreste, printed page 60, PDF page 50: a horse bone in a 6th–5th-century BC context. The authors also consider arrival with a hide or meat; the find alone does not establish local horse breeding.
- Maurice Euzennat, 1989 — Cavalrymen in ancient Banasa
Le limes de Tingitane, page 61 and notes 86–90: Banasa records mentioning a cavalryman in AD 124 and the replacement of a mounted unit in AD 215. Local ancient attestations, rather than dates for the arrival of horses in Morocco.
- Claudette Vanacker, 1973 — Breeding in medieval accounts
Annales, pages 659–680, especially page 674: analysis of Arabic authors from the 9th to mid-12th centuries, including horse breeding near Tetouan and the Laou and different working uses of animals. The relevant passage was read in Persée’s indexed text.
- HCP — 2025 Statistical Yearbook, Excel workbooks
Agriculture workbook, tables 3-17 and 3-20. Ministry survey in March–April 2024; provisional national summary and separate regional detail. Values in thousands, within the publisher’s administrative territory, including areas of Western Sahara.
- SOREC — 2024 integrated report
Pages 48–49 report declared births and mares covered; subsequent pages cover uses and competitions. These annual activity figures do not count all living horses, and the block used gives no breed breakdown of births.
- SOREC — Breeding and national studs
Account of services, the five studs, Faras and registration. This undated page explains procedures; it does not establish complete coverage of living horses.
- SOREC — Historical stud portal
Accounts of Meknes, El Jadida, Marrakech, Oujda and Bouznika. Military origins, agricultural management and transfers to SOREC document institutional changes.
- SOREC — 2014 national stud open days
Press dossier for the third edition, particularly pages 12–15. Institutional dates from 1912 to 2011 and identification procedures. Historical centre counts are not presented as current figures.
- SOREC — Horse breeds raised in Morocco
Accounts of the Barb, Arab-Barb, Arabian, Thoroughbred and Anglo-Arab. Undated identified populations are not used as living populations; origin stories would require additional historical evidence.
- UNESCO — Tbourida, inscribed in 2021
Nomination 01483 and decision 16.COM 8.b.26 cover the practice, participants, transmission and heritage recognition. Indexed passages were consulted; direct access to the portal encountered a human verification check.
- SOREC — 2026 tbourida competition rules
March 2026 version: categories, qualification stages and regional provisions. Rules establish conditions for a particular sporting edition rather than defining every form of the heritage practice.
- FRMSE — Federation, clubs and disciplines
Official presentation of the federation established in 1958, with clubs, training and competition resources. Undated rider counters are not used as current statistics.
- FRMSE — An introduction to tbourida
Description of synchronisation, judging criteria and regional variations, with links to competition resources.
- FRMSE — Sidi Berni breeding establishment
History of the property founded in 1985, its facilities and sport horse selection. Undated annual production figures are not treated as observations for 2024 or 2026.
- Museum With No Frontiers — Palace of Moulay Ismail
Architectural account of the Meknes palace complex, including stables for horses and mules. Building capacities are not converted into historical animal populations.
- Dijon museums — The Sultan of Morocco, Moulay Abd-Er-Rahman
Account of the sketch dated around 1832 and comparison with the composition exhibited in 1845. It explains the diplomatic setting and the artist’s choices.
- Cousquer et al., 2023 — Working mules in the High Atlas
Toubkal valley study combining ethnographic work in 2013–2017, a 2014 field survey and historical sources. Observations about mining, pack transport and tourism remain local.
- Salon du Cheval d’El Jadida — 2024 programme
Presentation of the fifteenth edition, recalling the first event in 2008, with classes, talks and displays. The archive documents that particular edition.
- FAOSTAT — Horse populations in the comparator
QCL series for horses and ponies, separate from donkeys and mules. The site’s extraction of 10 November 2026 is retained; Morocco’s 2024 figure is not replaced by the HCP value.